Bug Cupcakes!

At school, Jacob got to bring a birthday snack this week.  This is our third year at that preschool, and he has never gotten to bring a birthday snack before since he has a summer birthday, but this year, they decided to spread the birthdays out over the last couple of months so that all the kids could get to celebrate with their class.  Jacob’s class was covering insects and bugs, so of course, Brian pulled out all of the stops on these cupcakes…and let me mention again, that I made the cupcakes and the icing from scratch, but yet again, Daddy gets all the credit.  Jacob made sure to tell his teachers that he wanted the yellow scorpion and that his Daddy made them.  I didn't find out until afterwards, that they celebrated Jacob's birthday in chapel that day, so I wasn't able to go, but here he is super proud of his crown (which Annie later destroyed), and his birthday button:

Is she not the cutest little swimmer you’ve ever seen???

Well, technically she isn’t a swimmer, it is still a bit too cold for her.  We swam again this weekend, I even got in although the temperature was only 81, but we wanted to see how much Jacob had retained from his months of swim lessons last year.  He did pretty good!  This picture was taken when we got back from a friend's town home pool that had a great area only about 6" deep for the kids to play in...Annie again chose to sit out, but had fun playing by the water.

I just started noticing this week how much food we go through (after I spent well over $300 at the grocery store).  Jacob now wants to eat 2 hot dogs, we go through yogurt drinks like crazy, if I bought one box of chicken nuggets it would be one lunch for the kids, since Annie will eat as much as Gwyn.  I buy more peanut butter and ketchup than I do anything else, and now I'm having to buy 2-3 loaves of bread each week.  I just can't imagine what this is going to be like when they get to be teenagers, or even when we have to start ordering a kid's meal for Annie.  I just would never have thought I would have to institute a "3 square rule" for toilet paper at my house or that I would be spending $20 / week on yogurt drinks, ha!  

I did something huge this week in my quest to conquer all things domestic in this stay at home mom role I’m in…I bought a chicken with bones in it!  This may not sound like a big deal, but I’ve actually never bought anything other than chicken breasts (other than buying something like this for Sue to cook Brian’s fried chicken for him when she is in town), so let me rephrase that…I’ve never touched any raw chicken with bones in it before.  I got a little inspired after getting into The Pioneer Woman, and she had a few recipes about taking a whole chicken, boiling it, making your own broth, etc.  I didn’t want to attempt a whole chicken, so this is what I bought:

I took the chicken, pulled the skin off (which required a phone call to my mom to make sure I was supposed to do that), covered it in water, boiled it, then took it out and pulled the meat off.  To be honest, I probably only pulled half the meat off because I didn’t want to touch anything too yucky close to the bones.  I was proud of myself, it wasn’t too bad, the meal turned out great, and I think I might attempt this again soon on some chicken and dumplings like my mom used to make growing up.  I used this chicken to make a meal for my friend Christina, who just had her second baby boy, who is so cute and has a full head of hair!  When I took her the meal, we stayed to visit a bit, and I learned something new…Annie HATES babies!  Well, to be fair, I think she hates her Mommy holding other babies.  We cut the visit short, so that I could snuggle her up extra since she was traumatized over her Mommy holding another little baby for all of 10 seconds!

The kids are dance machines, and Annie gets a bit crazy.  I shot this video the other day...it really doesn't do Annie justice of her dance moves, of course when you break out the camera she doesn't do as much, but I'm sure you can tell we are getting our money's worth out of Gwyn's Little Gym dance class, ha!

The weather has been great here, so we've been playing outside every afternoon and evening.  Here are the kids making their famous "witch's brew:"

This lawnmower is still used all the time (what a great birthday gift from Emily for I think Jacob's first birthday).  Annie now claims it most days, although Jacob still uses it every week with Brian when he mows the yard:

During one of Annie's naps, I let the kids get out the "big craft box."  This is a box that has all things messy...glue, paints, glitter, etc. that has to be used with major supervision and NOT with Annie!  So, we got the paints out and went to town...how sad is it that Jacob's paintings are already about to surpass mine, ha!

 Gwyn kept telling me how pretty my picture was.  She is "into" all things beautiful and pretty.  Brian ordered her a bagel with strawberry cream cheese for her at Einstein bagels on Saturday for breakfast, and when he opened it up for her, she gasped at the pink cream cheese..."It's so beautiful!"

Here is a picture of some artwork that the kids did this week, when Gwyn sees anything bee related, she likes to remind you that you don’t pick up bees:

We did have one fiasco this week, as we sat down for dinner one night, Gwyn said she had to go potty.  So, she got up, went, came back.  I asked her if she washed her hands, she said yes, and that was it.  About 10 minutes later (after dinner), we discovered she had left the faucet on in the bathroom, and that sink doesn't drain very well.  Water had COVERED the entire bathroom floor, soaked the mats and everything that was on the floor, and seeped out into the hall.  Thankfully, it didn't reach the wood floors in our bedroom or the living room, and Brian's shop vac had it cleaned up in no time.  Gwyn said she just forgot to turn it off!  Here are a couple of extra pictures from the week.  Notice Annie's red fingernails match her popsicle!  Whenever I get the fingernail polish out, Annie says "pees" for please, she wants her nails painted too!

 Silly upside down swinging Jacob...LOVE him!!

Funny things the kids said this week:

Jacob telling Brian about the drive to the zoo:  It was a really long drive, not as long as Tulsa, but still a really long drive.

Gwyn to Brian:  I won’t go to the moon without you and Mommy.  (OK??)

Annie’s new favorite word she uses at least 25 times / day:  MINE  (oh gosh!)

Jacob:  Why did God make snakes that are poisonous, scorpions and skunks, because they are all bad?

Me:  Uh, we’ll have to ask him when we get to heaven.

Gwyn as we were making brownies to take to Christina:  I’ll be the state tester! (she meant taste tester)

Jacob and Gwyn whenever we are getting ready to go somewhere:  Are we going to school?  Are we going to church?  Are we going to Chuck E Cheese?  Are we going to Tulsa?

Gwyn:  POOP! (right in Jason’s face)

Me:  Gwyn, we aren’t going to potty talk.

Gwyn:  But Mommy (getting upset), you told me to say it.

Me:  I told you to sneak up on him and say BOO.

Gwyn:  Oh.

Jacob:  How does God fit the whole world into his hands? (Me:  He just does.)

Gwyn:  I see something white in the air following us (as we are driving to school).

Me:  Is it an angel?

Gwyn:  No, maybe it is a Storm Trooper??